She sits on stage dressed in black, smoking an e-cigarette, her blond, curly hair flowing down from her thick knit cap. The unrelenting Maria Alyokhina, a 37-year-old activist and performance artist best-known as a member of , is presenting her new book “Political Girl: Life and Fate in ” in Cologne as part of the literary festival lit.COLOGNE.
Maria Alyokhina is one of several women who staged a protest the evening before was reelected president of Russia — a position he continues to hold to this day. That night, the group donned colorful clothes and masks and held a “punk prayer” before the altar of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, calling on the Virgin Mary to “throw out” Putin. garnered worldwide attention.
The Virgin Mary didn’t seem to hear their prayer, however — Putin hasn’t gone anywhere. The once-moderate autocrat has turned into a . Maria Alyokhina had to flee from Russia, like tens of thousands of other young Russians, including many artists. Alyokhina now holds an Icelandic passport and leads a nomadic lifestyle in the West.
Sonia Mikich, a long-time Russia correspondent for German broadcaster ARD and presenter at the book launch in Cologne, commends Maria — “Mascha” — Alyokhina, calling her a sort of emissary from a different Russia — the “radial, absurd, artistic, free country we loved so much” and that now only lives on outside of Putin’s realm.
Alyokhina: ‘The detention conditions got worse’
Together with her fellow Pussy Riot member Olga Borisova, Maria Alyokhina authored a 500-page book detailing the events that transpired between December 2013 and April 2022. “From the moment I left the prison colony to the moment I had to leave Russia absolutely reluctantly,” Alyokhina explains.
The two-year sentence that Maria Alyokhina and other Pussy Riot members served in a prison colony after their protest performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior seems almost seems like a walk in the park to them looking back. She explains, “We were constantly in the international spotlight, we received thousands of letters from supporters, and, most importantly, there wasn’t this brutal, .” The many political prisoners today are faring far worse, she adds.
Eight years of struggle in Russia
At the end of 2013, Alyokhina was released from prison early and returned home, accompanied by crowds of journalists. But in the years that followed, authorities ramped up violence — especially against Russian citizens. The violence culminated in Russia’s full-scale and the murder of opposition leader .
Alyokhina fought for eight turbulent years — until the beginning of 2022. She participated in events criticizing the government, was repeatedly subjected to state-perpetrated violence, and repeatedly imprisoned and placed under house arrest. Finally, she freed herself from her electronic ankle bracelet and fled to the West via Belarus and Lithuania while disguised as a food delivery courier, leaving her phone behind as a decoy.
Maria Alyokhina was recently sentenced in absentia to 13 years and 15 days in prison for taking part in an anti-war video titled “Mama, don’t believe the TV” and other actions deemed to spread false information or discredit the Russian armed forces. In her words, “that means they haven’t forgotten me.” The severity of the sentence underscores the scale of reprisals .
A tale of freedom
Her book, “Political Girl,” tells tales of the author’s courageous and sometimes humorous actions — such as replacing the red flags on five government buildings in Moscow with rainbow flags in protest against the oppression of the LGBTQ community in Russia. Readers accompany Alyokhina on wild journeys across the country, during arrests and attacks by right-wing thugs. Readers also get to know a more personal side of the author during chapters in which she talks about her relationship with her son Philipp. At 18, he is now the same age his mother was when she gave birth to him.
The stories paint a multidimensional picture of Russia — a morbid, , but not hopeless country. Because, as Alyokhina says, there are still courageous, warm-hearted people — she has met them everywhere.
Weapons for Ukraine
Maria Alyokhina has clear words when it comes to sentiments in Europe about the war in Ukraine. “There are these ultra-left voices in Germany that, in my opinion, are terribly hypocritical,” she says in an interview with DW on the sidelines of her reading in Cologne. “Because when you demand that cede the occupied territories and sign so-called ‘peace agreements,’ everyone who has fought against Putin’s regime in Russia knows that anything can be signed and [the Russian government] can still screw you over afterwards.”
Alyokhina says she is “definitely in favor of arms deliveries to Ukraine.” Now in the fourth year of the war, talking about while hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have sacrificed their lives for the existence of their country is simply “stupid and cowardly,” says the activist.
‘Resistance is always possible’
Alongside other critic of the Kremlin such as Galina Starovoitova, Anna Politkovskaya and , Maria Alyokhina offers an example of how resistance is possible — even under the most extreme circumstances. “We don’t choose the country we are born in, but we choose how we want to live our lives,” Alyokhina said at the reading in Cologne. In her book, she shows readers the awful reality of Russia — a reality where young girls are sent to prison for a prank, a famous opposition figure is murdered, and doctors, journalists and poets are put on trial for providing “fake news” about the war in Ukraine. Is she afraid? Alyokhina replies: “At the moment, I’m somehow ashamed to be afraid.”
This article was translated from German
The post Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot speaks out appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
